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Show one of great benefit to the industry as a whole. It is good business to protect our basic industries and we should endeavor en-deavor to strengthen the public confidence con-fidence in every feature of this important im-portant industry from the grass roots to the table. The situation is much like the proverbial claim, no stronger than its weakest link, and the packer is and probably always will be an Important factor in our meat food distributing system. .1 i SitnmqjJ Supply and demand will always regulate the ebb and flow of prices. Meat food products are sold in competition com-petition with every other kind of food product, one balancing the other as to price possibilities and a surplus, of any one thing is likely to bring down the price of other food products; so there is a decided limit in the selling price of beef, pork and mutton. It is reasonable to assume that the increased duty on hides will be directly reflected in the livestock industry in-dustry of this country because it is important in determining the amount of money obtained for the merchantable merchant-able products of the bullock. The packer supposedly buys his livestock live-stock to the best advantage and sells his product to the best advantage. The thing that influences the packer in his daily purchases is "what will the meat cost on the hook?" and this is determined by deducting the market mar-ket value of the offer, including .the hide, so that the more money the hide sells for the less the cost of the meat on the hook. The packer sells the meat to the consuming trade, realizing realiz-ing all that he can for his product and what he receives constitutes the market price for such products. If the hides sell at a low price it adds to the cos); of the meat on the hook and the difference must be absorbed ab-sorbed by the remaining products, if a loss is to be avoided. Assuming that the increased duty on hides really real-ly means an increased cost of leather goods, is it not best that this increase should be made in articles of occasional oc-casional purchase rather than in our daily meat food ration? The cattle interests of the country appreciated the fact that without an increased tariff on hides the packer would immediately be confronted with a loss in the sale of the hide and that this would work a hardship on the industry, undoubtedly resulting in less purchasing power tending to create a surplus out of what would ordinarily be a normal supply. Price slumps logically follow surpluses and are most keenly felt by the farmer. Thus the conclusion justified that the better the outlet for all of the pro- WHO GETS THE ' - BENEFIT OF INCREASED , TARIFF DUTY ON HIDES? - n i f .. i In a recent newspaper article the " question was raised as to how far 1he jl cowman will feel the effect of the higher tariff on foreign hides in the sale of his cattle and the article con-i"!! con-i"!! eludes that the packer will not in crease the purchase price, notwith-btanding notwith-btanding the increased duty on the hide hence the public will pay the bill. In all of these questions we should form our conclusions only after a careful analysis of the facts, keeping in mind that the best policy is that which best serves most of the people all of the time. The reason the duty should be increased on hides is because be-cause the tanner can buy hides of foreign "takeoff" at a price lower than our cost of production, especially especial-ly from the Argentine where production produc-tion costs are lower than we can hope to ever approximate. This principal prin-cipal also governed the Committee's action in recommending an increased duty on livestock. Manifestly, the purpose of this 'is to protect one of our greatest fundamental industries and an industry upon which succsss-ful succsss-ful agriculture has always depended. There is a natural difference of viewpoint between the producer and the ultimate consumer which can only be abridged by a complete understanding un-derstanding of our underlying structure, struc-ture, and we must harken to the fact that agricultural success is essential to our national welfare. Our ability to employ labor and the efficiency of labor depend upon the ability of the farmer to buy manufactured products and to furnish and adequate food supply. sup-ply. The plowshare turned out of an Eastern steel plant must eventually find the way to the Western farm. So, at the outset we must agree that agriculture and industry are intimately intimate-ly and inseparably associated. Prices on everything we use have greatly advancd in recent years. On the other hand, these advances have been generally met by increased income. in-come. Thus we find relativity. ducts of the animal (each one carrying carry-ing its share of the load) the nearer the packer can come to an equitable distribution of costs and stabilization of his business, all of which goes to the point of sustained purchasing power. The tanner also supposedly buys the hides to the best advantage and sells the leather to the best advantage; advan-tage; meeting the competition of many so-called subsitutes for leather, including the snake family, particularly parti-cularly in the manufacture of shoes; so that the tanner has very little to say about the price of leather. The laws of supply and demand still prevail and govern every feature connected with livestock production and the distribution of meat food products and while we may not be able to find the increased duty branded on each hide of the critter purchased from day to day, yet we know that it Is a material factor and |